Sign character



March 19, 1935. J. T. COCHRAN SIGN CHARACTER Filed Aug. 17, 1931 far/62116 1 Patented Mar. 19, 1935 UNITED TAT s e This invention relates "in'general to .a sign for advertising or display comprising. letters or char-. acters. made of glass or other transparent may terial and having a rear simface whichforms a reflector eitherof itself or by the addition of reflecting material thereto so that the character has a brilliant reflecting appearance.

one ofthe principal objects of the invention- 7 is in the provision of a'sign character composed;

of transparent material either plain or colored and adapted toresemble an electrified gas filled tubeJ T A further object of the invention is in the provision of a sign character-which is highly re 77 fleeting and adapted to glow when illuminated by natural or artificial light.

' A further object of the invention is in the provision of a sign'character having a reflecting surface made up of a great number of relatively small projections or indentations which together form a reflecting surface visible through a. wide angle from the front thereof.

A still further object of the invention is in the at the front of the character and reflected thereby through a wide angle at the front. I

A still further object of the invention is in breakor become damaged,.a.nd easily applicable for display purposes whether illuminated or not.

Other objects of the invention will appear hereinafter, the accompanying drawing illusprefer'redemboditrating various forms and the merit of theinvention.

In the accompanying drawing, f

Fig. 1 represents a letter constructed in ac cordancewith this invention;

Fig. 2 is a section of a letter or character;

Fig; 3 is a similar section presenting a plane reflector spaced from the rear of'the reflecting surface; I I

Fig. 4 shows a similar section with a curved reflector at the rear of the character;

Fig. .5 shows a section with a front lens tion and a rear oonvex surfacey I Fig. 6 shows a. front convex lens portion a rear concave reflecting surface; I

. Fig. 7 shows-a section with a front convex lens portion; a rear reflecting surface'and a reflecting material'applied to the back of the reflecting surface;

Fig. 8 is a section of a character showing a slightly concaverear surface which is the result of natural shrinkage of a material such as glass in hardening or setting form from a rear plane surface;

Fig. 9 represents an angular prismatic reflectingsurface which may be produced at the rearof.

the'letters or characters instead of the circular.

forms; and

Fig. 10 is an enlargedsectional detail illustrating the application of'the reflectingma'terial and aprotecting coating to thereflecting sur-v face.

disclosed in my application Serial No. 467,855 filed July 14, 1930 with theprovision of the in:- numerable reflecting surfaces directly at the back of the glassv or other material of which the lettersare formed. may bev accomplished by providing the letter forming device or roller with ing, a letter orcharacter 11 is shownin Fig. 13 which is represee-nted as having anuoutwardly. rounded lens Jfront running'with the letter, or

character. and an innumerable number of regularreflecting lenses formed directly in the back of the letter'and'preferably circular in form .al-

inventionrelate-s to the formation ofsign letters or characters by a processsimilar to that.

though they maybe hexagonal or diamond shaped as suggestedin conneotion'wlth Fig; 9. Whenviewed from the front, a letter so formed:

luminated with a bright light. If the glass or,

reflectingsurface at the rear is colored, .the reflection iscorrespondingly colored and is-bril-.

liant or flaming, depending upon the color; Ciroular reflectors at the back of a letter which is rounded at the front appear elongated-or ovaldepending upon the shape of the letter and it is J. extremely difiicult .to'produce. aletter having thesamebrillianoe of reflection throughout'the en.-

. tire letter. .It can be produced only by carefully applying the .reflection surfaces to the letter-so that they are even and uniform throughoutwith the same transverse contour and depth of:.de'

. In the cross sectional body structure 13 vas'illustrated: by Figs. 2, 3 and 4, the outer or lens portion 14is rounded outwardly less thana semi.-'

circle andthe backhas a straight reflecting sur-z face in whichare anumber of circular reflect-i ing surfaces'l5 convex at the back. In attempt f ing tomake this structure-ofglass itisffound that'the transverse surface-of the letter at theback 'will not be a straight .line but due to the natural shrinkage of. the material it will 'form 'a" slightly concave rear surface as indicated in Fig. 8. g

It is found that the circular rounded reflecting the edge to clear up the letter.

to be rough or jagged, and to make a smoothsurfaces will reflect the light almost perfectly around their edges but at their center there is a tendency to refract the light. To counteract this tendency a reflector 16 is addedwhich bears against the reflectors 15, as shown in Fig. l 3,or a reflector 1'7 also running with thelletter and curving transversely outward maybe attached to the edges thereof as shown in Fig. 4.

Instead of the rear surface of a letter being flat at the back, the body of a letter 18 may be convex at the back as shown in Fig- 5 or a,

body 19 may be concave as shown in Fig. 6.

It is also found that to provide the outer lens or ruzming surface of a letter with an additional row of circular lenses 20 or a plurality of circular or angular lenses 21, as shown in Fig. 7,

will localize and produce additional magnificae tion and dispersion of the reflections which pro duces amore striking eifect. V

For certain distances the outer running lens Will 'be'less than a semi-circle in cross section or more than asemi-c'ircle or substantially a semicircle. In small letters less than an inch in height,for example, it is'found that very poor results are obtained unless the 'cross" sectional body'of the lens is less than a semi-circle.

In a semi-circular glass'body 22 as shown by Fig. 8, the actual depression 33 due to the natur-' a1 shrinkage of the glass in hardening or settling:

is an appreciable curve.

In forming letters of this kind of glass by rolling or otherwise pressing them in a mold there is usually a thin adhering body of glass at the back of the letter which must be broken from This edge tends letter, a portion of theedge 23 is ground at the same or a different inclination tothe surface of the adjacent rear reflectors 24 of a body 35.

In the enlarged view ofFigure 10 there is a reflecting ring 25-approximately belowthe line 26 which reflects practically all of the light. The rounded surface 27' above the line .26 only partially reflects the light and it. is necessary there-. fore to provide a reflecting covering or coating or lacqueris' applied to the back of the .reflect-.

ing material 28 and overlaps it at the edge of the letter preferably at the-ground edge 23 thereof so that the edges of the reflecting material are thus-protected and covered.

Instead of a circular reflector, the reflecting;

surface 31 may be angular as indicated in Fig.9.

In producing and using a letter of this kind theletter may be provided only with a reflecting surface consisting of innumerable reflecting surfaces at the back thereof or thesereflecting sur-:

faces may be covered or partially coveredby reflectors; the back maybe straight or curved; and, the frontle'ns may be curved more or lessthan' asemi-circle and also provided with additional lenses in or on the body of the main lens which runs with the letter- I claim:

1. A sign character having a transparent body which constitutes the character with a smooth and continuous front convex lens portion running with and extending continuously throughout the. character .and a back reflector therefor formed in the body and comprising staggered rows of small closely spaced circular or parabolic projections covering the rear of the body and each substantially spherical in form and the rounded 'acts'as a condenser of entering light over the area to. be reflected, magnifies the reflectors, and disperses the light reflected therefrom 'over a wide angle at the front of the. character simulating a character composed of illuminated gas filled tubing... i i i 21A glass sign characterin accordance with claim'l in which the small rounded spherical .reflectors forma continuous back surface which is substantially flat and continuous but 'in'cross section is slightly 'concavedue to the greater shrinkage of the glass at the center.

3. A sign character having a glass body constituting the entire character with a convex lens front running with the character and with a substantially flat back reflector which consists of innumerable small spherical projections spaced closely together and staggered to entirely fill the back surface, each forming a tiny reflector for the lightwhich enters the front lens, the reflectors being so small and so close together that they produce auniform' brilliant character reflected in a wide angle at the front of the character simulating an illuminated gas filled tubing character.

4. A sign character in accordance with claim 3 in which Fthe small spherical projections are coatedat their rear surface with a reflecting medium whichaccentuates the brilliance of the reflection as viewed from the front of the character'so that it responds to natural and artificial illumination from the same side 5. A sign character in accordance with claim 3 .inwhich the front lens portion has individual lens projectionsfrom the surface thereof and formed of the body of the glass to accentuate the reflection at these locations.

6. A sign character'of glass having a body which constitutes the character only, comprising a front convex lens portion running with the character and a reflector back with innumerable treme angles of the depressions between, them simulating an illuminated character of gas filled tubing.

7'. A: sign'character in accordance with claim 6 in which the edgesof the back are rounded off, the reflecting medium extending nearly to the extreme edges thereof, and a protective coating extending over the reflecting medium and tothe extremities of the rounded off edges thereby wideningthe angle of reflection and more resembling an illuminated gas filled tubing lamp. 

